Nicolás Andrés Grau Veloso (born 9 April 1983) is a
Chilean business manager
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a business manager as "a person who manages the business affairs of an individual, institution, organization, or company".
Compare manager.
Business managers drive the work of others (if any) in order to oper ...
,
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...
and
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
who has been as Chile's Minister of
Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism since 11 March 2022.
Biography
Grau is the son of Francisco Grau Mascayano and
Paulina Veloso, the former
Secretary-General of the Presidency during
Michelle Bachelet
Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...
's first government (2006−2010). Despite he was born in
Concepción, at a young age he moved with his family to
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...
. In Chile's capital city, Grau attended basic and secondary education at the Raimapu School in
La Florida.
He completed his
BA at the
Universidad de Chile
The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843. Faculty of Economics and Business (FEN), in which he served as president of the
Student Federation
A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...
(FECh) from 2005 to 2006. Similarly, he was publicly questioned for the failed celebration of the FECh first centenary, where were lost around $120 million
pesos
The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...
.
[
In 2011, he studied a ]master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
at the University of Chile. Then, he did a Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
−also in economics− at the University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
Political career
Parallel to his position as president of the FECh, Grau was a member of the Izquierda Amplia, which grouped the Assembly of Students of the Left, the New University Left —to which he belonged— and the SurDa movement. He had a prominent role as a university leader in the 2006 student mobilization. Also, he was a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on Education.
Grau has worked as a scholar at the FEN. Also, he is a researcher at the Center for Studies on Conflict and Social Cohesion (COES).
In 2017, Grau participated in the foundation of the Broad Front (FA) coalition. Similarly, from 2016, he was a member of the Autonomist Movement
The Autonomist Movement was a Chilean political movement which was a founding member of the Broad Front on 21 January 2017. One year later, the movement merged into the party Social Convergence alongside Libertarian Left, Socialism and Libert ...
(MA), which merged into Social Convergence
The Social Convergence (, CS) is a left-wing political party in Chile. It is led by Gabriel Boric.
It was founded in 2018 by the Autonomist Movement (MA), Libertarian Left (IL) (a part of the movement left the party in 2019), Socialism and Fre ...
led by the then deputy Gabriel Boric
Gabriel Boric Font (; born 11 February 1986) is a Chilean left-wing politician who is the 37th and current president of Chile, serving since 11 March 2022. Boric studied in the Faculty of Law at the University of Chile, and was the president o ...
, also leader of the MA. In that way, Grau was part of the presidential campaigns of Beatriz Sánchez (2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
) and Boric, who won the 2021 elections against José Antonio Kast
José Antonio Kast Rist (born 18 January 1966), also known by his initials JAK, is a Chilean lawyer and politician. Kast ran for president in 2021, winning the first round and losing in the second round run-off to Gabriel Boric.
Part of the ...
.
On 22 January 2022, Grau was appointed as Minister of Economy, Development, and Tourism by the elected president Boric. On 11 March, he assumed the office alongside Boric.
In august 2022, already as minister, He was widely questioned for saying, in a context of high inflation, "Inflation brings costs and benefits to SMEs, unlike individuals," sayings that provoked anger in unions of small and medium-sized companies, as well as parliamentarians demanding their undergraduate and graduate degrees.
As minister Grau has faced severe criticism for his use of twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
in 2020 and 2021 where he made hateful comments against Chilean police
Investigations Police of Chile (, PDI) are the civilian police of Chile. Founded in 1933, it is one of two Chilean police bodies, along with the law enforcement police: Carabineros de Chile. The PDI is the principal law enforcement arm of the Pub ...
. In relation to the death of Francisco Martínez in February 2021 Grau wrote: "Murderous cops. The people have the right to hate you" ( es, Pacos asesinos. El pueblo tiene todo derecho a odiarles). In face of mounting criticism in October 2022 Grau deleted the tweets and said that "that these were said in specific context" adding that "I do not share hese commentsnow".[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grau, Nicolás
1983 births
Living people
21st-century Chilean economists
21st-century Chilean politicians
Members of the Autonomist Movement
Social Convergence politicians
University of Chile alumni
University of Pennsylvania alumni
Chilean Ministers of Economy